Four steps to the perfect CHO!

Want to be winning the CHO-downs in your next match? Follow this guide and you could be rivalling Harimoto in no time at all.

Tomokazu Harimoto exhibiting the advanced CHO; not to be undertaken by novices. (Photo: ITTF World)

by Wade Townsend

A good CHO is your fastest way to get inside your opponent’s head. Literally.

So don’t neglect your CHO, it needs a warmup just like your footwork. Follow these pro tips and you will be winning the CHO-down in no time at all.

Step 1: Open up your throat

The bigger the windpipes the bigger the CHO. To properly open your throat and diaphragm, force yourself to yawn. Yawning encourages your throat to expand to its full potential.

Step 2: Engage your core

A good core is your path to the loudest CHO. Stand straight and engage those abs for perfect posture. Pay particular attention to tensing your pelvic floor and the diaphragm to project your voice to the rafters. Soon you’ll have six-pack abs like Zhang Jike and a sonic boom voice that breaks more than just the sound barrier.

Step 3: Control your breathing

Breathing is the mechanism that creates and underpins your CHO. A good cardio regime in the offseason will give you a solid base once the tournaments get underway. But before a match you must work on breath control. Relax your shoulders and chest, inhale into your diaphragm, and exhale slowly like your sighing about your opponent’s third edge ball in a row.

Step 4: Vocal exercises

The final step finally puts your voice in to action. Repeat the CHO-LE-MI scale five times. Afterwards the male athletes can move down the octave towards the guttural sounds of Ma Lin, while the female players should aspire to reach the pitch of Bernadette Szocs.